Mitsubishi has announced the end of its rear projection screen TVs. For many years if you had big-screen TV, it was typically a rear projection style unit. As pricing on LCD and plasma TV sets came down and screen sizes increased, consumer interest in rear projection TVs waned.

Mitsubishi was the last manufacturer producing these relics from the past, but the company has informed its authorized service centers 73-inch, 82-inch, and 92-inch DLP projection TVs will be discontinued.

Mitsubishi Electrical Visual Solutions America (MEVSA) president and CEO Junichi Nose stated that the change was part of an "important change in business direction, which will necessitate a corresponding restructuring of the MEVSA organization."

MESVA's Max Wasinger added, "We are in the midst of an orderly exit from the DLP TV business. MEVSA will now focus on B-to-B (projectors, display wall, printers, digital signage, monitors, etc.) and the home theater projector business."

Mitsubishi's line of projection screen TVs were far from inexpensive. The 75-inch LaserVue TV sold for about $4,000 at retail locations around the country.

Ive never heard the fan on my Mitsubishi. Sure it exists but Ive never heard it.

Reality is its time for RPTV's to go away. The cost of manufacturing the box the components reside in, front surface mirror, fresnel, Bulb, Calibrating, and shipping size. The size alone you can fit 3-4 flat panels in the same space. This time next year we should see 60" LCD for the same price as RPTV's today so it just makes sense to drop the box.

heavy: myth (samsung 60" E8000 TVs are within a pound of each other for either technology)shorter life span: myth (both are typically rated to 100,000 hours half life)

You are probably as likely to have burn in on an LCD as you are on a modern plasma, unless you do something any reasonably tech savvy person would consider dumb. They use as much power as a traditional LCD, and create as much heat. Sure, if you compare to LED backlit models they are less efficient, but at the prices most people buy plasmas at (entry level) they are vastly superior in all aspects, and at the higher end, many are willing to trade power consumption for the superior picture they offer.